Woodworker's Journal July-August 2013

DUBIOUS DOVETAILS A funny thing happened when I tried to cut delicate dovetails on my band saw — I made some really awful dovetails. This would not have been a big problem, except we had already designed a dovetailed silverware box for our Small Shop Journal project (page 64) in this issue — and I had appointed myself as the builder. My “small shop” features a band saw, so that was to be my approach. It’s not that I struggle making dovetails. I’ve just never, in 30-plus years as a shop rat, tried cutting them on a band saw. Early attempts (at left — please don’t share this with anyone!) left me less than confident and, with a deadline fast approaching, I wondered how keyed dovetails might look ... and…

Repurpose and Recycle in the Shop Marking Gauge Helps Set Bit Height If you want a really accurate way to set bit height on your router table, start with a wheel marking gauge. Set your gauge to the bit depth you want, and knife a line along the edge of a piece of scrap stock. My gauge has a micro-adjust feature on it, so I can set it to precisely the bit height I need. Use the marked scrap, set alongside your bit, as a height gauge. Raise the bit until it intersects your knife line. Works great! Bill Wells Olympia, Washington Versatile Mobile Base Recently, I built an A-frame clamp rack, and I mounted it on four 3" swivel casters. But, once I loaded the rack with more than…

Wood, Inserts and Router Bits THIS ISSUE’S EXPERTS Rob Johnstone is editor in chief of Woodworker’s Journal. Chris Marshall is a senior editor of Woodworker’s Journal and author of several books on woodworking. Bill Hylton is a woodworker and author of Woodworking with the Router. Contact us by writing to“Q&A,” Woodworker’s Journal, 4365 Willow Drive, Medina, MN 55340, by faxing us at (763) 478-8396 or by emailing us at: QandA@woodworkersjournal.com Please include your home address, phone number and email address (if you have one) with your question. Q I am planning to build a picnic table, and I was interested in your advice on what kind of wood would be the best. I was researching red oak, but that is rather hard to find in anything other than random widths and lengths, and…

Picking Up the Thread Mystery-solving readers bolt down the answer. The owner of the tool presented as April’s mystery, Miguel Angel Hernandez of Veracruz, Mexico, found the item at a flea market. Others found it in their memories. Richard Hill of Fort Collins, Colorado, remembered that his “grandfather had one when I was a kid on the farm. I made lots of homemade bolts from rods for my projects back in the 50s with it.” It is, said David Voight of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, “a blacksmith die.” “Blacksmiths would make rolled threads on round stock to make bolts,” said Marvin “Butch” Ostman of Baldwin, Wisconsin. “The numbers by each opening are threads per inch,” said John Kaiserlik1 of Hawkeye, Iowa. “It was tightened onto a shaft and rotated to form threads.…

Built Quick vs. Built to Last Build a Bar, Boys In 8 Hours or Less Kansas City, Missouri, woodworker Kirk Brown had the chance to participate in a cool project last year: in this era of reality television, the George Dickel whiskey company decided to film a “Raising the Bar” bar-building contest at Kansas City’s American Royal World Series of BBQ. Kirk, who normally builds high-end furniture destined for a New York-based clientele, had eight hours to build an impressive bar with his team while competing with other teams. “All of my projects take a lot longer than eight hours, exponentially longer. You can’t make anything really well, really fast — just like you can’t make whiskey real fast.” As part of the whiskey company’s publicity stunt, the teams building…

Getting the right geometry and a keen edge will make all the difference in the world for your turning output. Last issue, we looked in great detail at bench grinders. This time we will look at an aftermarket jig which, used in combination with your grinder, helps make grinding much more assured. We’ll finish this two-part series focusing on buffers, which are the quickest way to bring spindle turning tools to a keen edge. Although everyone calls them jigs, grinding aids are actually fixtures, but as this boat has left the dock, I won’t try to row upstream in this article. (See explanation at left.) One of the most widely used systems of jigs for sharpening turning tools — and frankly the one I prefer — is made by Oneway…